1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to tape cassette players such as car stereos and video tape recorders and, more particularly, to a novel and highly-effective automatic mechanism for reversibly moving a tape cassette between ejected, loaded and operating positions and for changing the position of a head base plate or other movable components in order to enable different modes of cassette player operation such as stop, play, fast-forward, automatic search and rewind.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are various conventional automatic mechanisms by which components such as a head base plate or a pinch roller for a tape cassette player can be moved to a position corresponding to a selected mode of operation such as a stop, play, fast-forward, automatic search and rewind. Such automatic mechanisms typically comprise a reversible electric control motor as disclosed for example in a patent to Nakamichi et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,792. In such mechanisms, operating members for moving the components are actuated by cam means which is rotated in accordance with the rotation of the electric control motor. A U.S. patent application of Takamatsu Serial No. 06/506,664, filed June 22, 1983, subsequently and allowed and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,386, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses sequential control of a plurality of members, for example a cassette pulling member and a cassette holder member, by means of separate cams which are rotated by the same motor.
However, in the prior art a plurality of motors are required for loading and ejecting a tape cassette and controlling the operation of a cassette player in all its modes.